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State awards $340 million to advance full-day pre-K

Eighty-one school districts and providers will receive a total of $340 million in state funds to implement full-day pre-kindergarten, with the vast majority slated for the New York City school district. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office today announced the recipients of the funds, which will go toward reimbursing schools and pre-K providers as they implement their individual programs. New York City's district is slated to receive $294.5 million, with the remaining 80 districts and groups splitting $45.5 million.

Seven local school districts are scrambling to call parents and let them know there will be pre-kindergarten slots for their youngsters after all, now the state has approved grants totaling $340 million for full-day pre-K.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office today announced the 81 recipients of the funds, which will go toward reimbursing schools and pre-K providers as they implement or expand their programs. Some $294.5 million goes to New York City and $45.5 million will be shared among districts around New York.

Locally, about $14.3 million will go to seven districts that will either increase the number of half-day slots or change half-day programs to full-day ones.

"We were very excited. We got everything we requested," said Jane Brown, executive director of Child Care Resources of Rockland, which submitted applications for four Rockland school districts that will add a total of 75 full-day slots to current half-day programs. "We're in the midst of getting letters out to parents."

"We can have a longer day, we can do more with the children and with the families, so this is just great," Executive Director Ouida Toutebon said.

Cuomo and state lawmakers approved spending $1.5 billion in state money to expand pre-k across the state, money that will be spread out over five years, with $340 million dispersed in both the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years.

The funding was approved after a public battle between New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Cuomo over de Blasio's plan to raise the income tax on the city's wealthiest to pay for universal pre-k.

Ossining will receive $2.14 million which will allow the district to change its 256-child half-day program to a full-day program, said schools Superintendent Raymond Sanchez.

Districts had been expecting to learn if they got the funding in July and he was so concerned at the silence from Albany that he contacted state legislators. Sanchez said he was ecstatic to get the word because now he can go ahead and put the program together.

"We've done a significant amount of legwork; we have candidates in the wings we've interviewed and screened," he said. "Now we can formally look to make some final decisions and begin to offer positions to them."

White Plains will receive $1.07 million that will be passed on to the district's third-party providers, said schools Superintendent Tim Connors.

"It will enable more of the youngsters in the pre-K to go full-time," he said. "It's good for the community because it's serving more youngsters. The more opportunities we have for more of our children to attend pre-school before coming to school, the more they're school-ready."

In all, 19 awards went to pre-K providers in New York City and 62 school districts and providers outside the city received state funding for the program.

In addition to White Plains, Ossining and East Ramapo, Catholic School Region of Central Westchester in Yonkers received $2.2 million, Nyack received $100,000, Ramapo Central received $200,000, North Rockland received $150,000 and South Orangetown received $300,000.